Lay Christians, St. Benedict of Nursia, and the Renewal of Christian Society

Zenit recently reported the pope's comments on the Rule of St. Benedict and the restoration of Christian Europe. Part of the pope's commentary referenced the crushing blow to 20th century ideology in Europe brought about by societies once thought by their members to have been utopias (or utopias in the making), such as Nazi Germany or the USSR. This reminded me of a quote by G.K. Chesterton: "Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried" and another quote (the origin of which is unknown to me) that post-Christian society is now like a divorcee, and having been wedded to Christ (although always to reluctant to have been truly committed), society is immune to the message of Christianity. The problem with Christianity isn't a problem with Christianity at all, but a problem with society.

Many opponents of Christianity, or organized religion in general, claim that it is too complicated. The truth is that it is actually quite simple, but that the many complications of our lives end up requiring more complex religious structures than would otherwise be necessary. Take, for instance, the greatest commandments: Love God and love neighbor. These are not complex, but our relationships with God and our fellow men often are, and so we try all too often to make exceptions for the two simple commandments, just as the self-righteous pharisee did (Luke 10:25-29). The question "who is my neighbor?" has many brethren: "does God really want me to go to Mass or does He just want my worship?"..."what is 'the Lord's name' that I should not take in vain?"..."does the commandment not to murder include those who murdered others?"..."is being faithful to my wife part of loving her as my neighbor"...and the ever-popular question not only of Pontius Pilate, but of today's generation: "what is truth?" Because we wish to make exceptions, to justify ourselves, or to serve two masters without being totally committed to the Lord, the Lord has to direct us against each and every personal variation of the two divine commandments. Suddenly, by specifically addressing our complex sins, ten commandments are expounded instead of two, and as we begin to split those ten into many hairs, God must address each attempt of ours. I suspect that this is why more and more commandments were given as Israel fell again and again into sin, and some sins were even allowed passively when they could not be prevented, until God began through the prophets to reveal once again the central meaning of all the laws, and through Jesus Christ to point out love as the foundation of the Law.

If love is the foundation of divine law, surely it is also the foundation of natural law. Yet as society has abandoned divine law, and even natural law, it has replaced love with lust, and we all know the astonishing results.

A new law is needed. The Rule of St. Benedict, together with other religious rules, is a law based on love. It is a guide for society in general, and by using the principles which once guided the development of Christian Europe, we can renew and redevelop Christian society in the West, based on authentic love of God and man. Most (if not all) religious rules prominently features poverty, chastity, and obedience (if enough people request it, I will follow up this post in the near future with an exegesis of these three evangelical virtues). Basing law on the religious rules, poverty, chastity, and obedience could greatly assist the renewal of Christian society by simplifying the human condition, the complexity of which so often contributes to a society's apathy about God.

The job of those wishing to renew Christian society, in my opinion, is to show the world what true Christianity looks like. By showing the world that they are not truly divorcees because they never truly wedded Christ (a consequence of never truly knowing Him), Christians can open the world to reconsider Christ and His Gospel from a fresh viewpoint. Then, finally, in answer to Chesterton, we might actually try Christianity and find it not lacking, but greatly enriching.

Of course, the Second Vatican Council calls on lay Christians to live within society and act as leaven for the world, but I see no reason to believe that we cannot be leaven together. Can lay Catholics form in communities within larger communities? It seems that in most modern cities in the United States, when a part of town is advancing and developing well, people flock to those neighborhoods. Certainly an authentically lived Christianity would be a wonderful and attractive neighborhood and may slowly attract those who are less fervent Christians so that the Gospel begins to spread. In the feudal age, this was done when a community centered around the estate of a lord and the church he built for the town. While I won't advance a feudal economic system, I think it is a wonderful idea to build new communities (within a larger community) centered around a church, pump it full of faithful Catholics, and work hard to make it grow until it evangelizes the culture.

When I attended seminary, I was educated at a monastery in a very, very small town. The neighbors would gather at the basilica church for Mass and were often very involved in the lives of the monks, and having their Christian identities at the center of their lives, I believe it would have been a great evangelization tool, if not for one problem: it was extremely rural. There was no one around to evangelize. On the other side of the spectrum is have Ave Maria, Florida, a whole Catholic town, and considerably larger than my old seminary town, but from what I've gathered in conversation with others, it's perceived as a bit separatist. An authentic Christian community cannot try to put up boundaries keeping others out.

While consider the idea of creating authentic Christian communities as evangelization tools, Focolare interested me. Focolare as an organization was praised recently by Pope Benedict XVI after the foundress died. I haven't been able to figure it all out yet, but it would appear to me that they did something similar to what I'm proposing.

Another practical problem an economic system. Because of federal laws protecting certain "rights" of those opposed to Christianity, there are tricky dealings in trying to create a community as I have proposed, as is demonstrated by Wikipedia's article on Ave Maria, FL (see the "Controversies" section). I'm not sure how to get around this, except to use what was once a tactic of greedy men: in many parts of Appalachia in the early 20th century, steel and coal mining companies would employ immigrants and pay them not with money, but with notes that could only be used at the company store. Housing would be provided by the company in exchange for work, as would the payment of these notes. Since such a system would take issues such as rent out of the equation, fair rent policy laws would be ineffective in fighting the communities.

Anyway, I'm not a lawyer, so I can't figure out all these details, but I do find the idea interesting and I wonder what the world would be like if we could pull this off. Thoughts?

His Servant and Yours,

Micah